


Second Nature

by rapturousblue



Category: Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, i might make it a longer thing eventually idk, if that makes any sense, sappy high schoolers, the mcu sux so i made my own yfeel so its kinda an au but not really ig, the only death in here is normans lol, this is like. my own version of MCU, this isnt very long sorry, well in reference to it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21568711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rapturousblue/pseuds/rapturousblue
Summary: Peter knew he probably shouldn't worry about Harry as much as he did, but in all honesty, he doesn't really mind. He knows what he and Harry have isn't unhealthy or anything like that. There's gonna be some concern involved, considering everything that's happened. Especially considering the fact that Harry apparently has never learned how to respond to his friends' texts asking if he's okay.
Relationships: Harry Osborn/Peter Parker
Kudos: 29





	Second Nature

**Author's Note:**

> ok this is messy Please dont come for me. trying 2 be a better writer and also its like super late so uhhh yeah.

The night is just like any other night. Spider-Man, a.k.a. Peter Parker, local high school student and part-time Avenger, can be found swinging through the night sky, and he's trying to stay focused. Right. He was going to see Harry. (Not that he really needs much refocusing, he thinks of Harry so often nowadays that it's become commonplace.)He wasn't going to patrol, he wasn't going to listen to police scanners, he was going to see Harry and make sure he was alright. And make sure he knew to at least _try_ and answer MJ's texts. 

Propelling himself around buildings can be a pain, but Peter finds that it's worth it, given the time it allows him to think. He gets so little of it nowadays, just time he can truly let his mind wander. Being a superhero and a high school student all at once has found to be super time consuming, to nobodies surprise. His webshooters might as well be a part of him by now, it's all muscle memory. Being above the city, above the noise, above the cars and the billboards and the lights, THIS is when Peter feels at peace. But he's getting distracted and now something is vibrating and oh shit it's MJ I gotta answer her wait where's a building I can land on -- 

"Peter?"

Rolling to a stop on a nearby top of a building, he grabs his phone from one of his pockets and answers his friend, "Hey MJ! I'm on my way to Harry's right now, I'll be there soon."

He hears a sigh before his friend, Michelle, responds, "do you think you'll be able to get into Oscorp this late? They probably have a buttload of new security stuff after the accident, so try not to get fried." 

"Thanks."

"You're always welcome. Now, go get your boyfriend and come back to study with me. See you soon."

She hangs up before he can interject with "he's NOT my boyfriend!" but then again, maybe that would have come off as too defensive. 

Looking up from his phone, Peter sees a news billboard saying that it's been three weeks since Norman Osborn died. He shakes his head, snapping him out of his thoughts, and starts to make a beeline for Oscorp. But, has it really only been three weeks, he thinks to himself as he travels. It feels like it's been months, and honestly, Peter can't find it in him to complain about the billionaire's passing. After all, he was a supervillain, and he did treat his son like shit. It was only a matter of time before his pride got better of him. 

Which led him back to what MJ said. Were Peter and Harry boyfriends? Officially, maybe not, but at this point did it really matter? Harry had been crashing at Peter and Aunt May's apartment for months now, bringing him food in school, Peter had helped him through his father's... habits, and Peter was pretty sure they both had feelings for each other. At least, Peter knew his own. (Which was a surprise, honestly. Usually the whole emotional side of things doesn't come easy, but with Harry it felt so natural. Which was pretty cool.)

Peter found himself thinking about Harry a lot, not that he was complaining. Now, he was just worried. 

He knew Harry could take care of himself. He had seen him endure what Norman did to him, and Peter nearly shivered in the night air as he thought about what he had been through. Sure, Peter never knew his dad, but at least he had Uncle Ben. At least he had a positive figure to look up to and grow from. Peter grew up knowing he was cared for and loved. He couldn't say the same for Harry. For his friend's sake, he had come to the funeral, but deep down, he wasn't too upset. Norman being gone meant that Harry would no longer come to school late and bleeding, no more unexplained bruises, no more crying. Harry could now begin to grow and heal, and Peter was happier than he felt like he should be, given the circumstances. He just cared about Harry a lot, he told himself. He can't help it. 

He gets into Oscorp the same way he always does: through the one window Harry always forgets to relock. (He opens it every day because he likes the air.) 

If MJ was right about the added security, it was only applied to the lower floors, where the accident actually happened. Peter slipped through the upper layers of Oscorp, trying to find the one giant bookcase that was against the one wall because they were the Osborns and they were rich, of course they had a wall of books, Peter bet Norman had never even touched them and then--  
Peter found it. The one book that led to the really cool secret bunker Norman established that Harry had taken over. Of course the book was "Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Of course it was. 

Pulling the book, he heard a click and the bookcase pulled back into a set of stairs. 

Okay sure, Norman was an asshole, but at least he had a cool building. 

After climbing the stairs, he stumbled into the messiest workspace he had ever seen. It was worse than his own, which was really saying something. In the middle of all the papers and tape and yarn connecting newspapers and gears and metal parts, was Harry Osborn, dead asleep. At least he was asleep this time, Peter thought, recalling the time he had been telling Harry to go to bed, which scared the shit out of Harry, causing Peter to get a wrench to the skull. That wasn't fun.

Harry liked to see himself as some sort of enigma, but Peter knew him too well. He knew that underneath it all, Harry still loved his dad, and that he hoped that his dad would love him too someday. Sighing, he carefully picked up the sleeping Osborn, who (unsurprisingly) showed no sign of waking up. Peter swings around New York as daily routine, so honestly, picking Harry up was easy. He worried if it was too easy, though. Maybe Harry wasn't eating enough. Peter made a mental note to start bringing extra food to school, just in case. 

Getting Harry in bed was also easy, and he slipped out of the building without a sound. Maybe he liked Harry more than in a friend way. Sure, whenever he smiled Peter found himself at a loss for words, and sure! Peter felt like he had the world in his hands when he made Harry laugh, but he didn't have time for that. Sure, he felt like he had exploded when Harry had asked him to prom. He had to make sure his friend was safe and okay, and that he knew he was safe. Romance or whatever this was could come later, once Harry was more stable. Once Harry maybe didn't hate Spider-Man as much. 

Before swinging off Oscorp tower, he was sure to send a message to MJ about how Harry was okay, just fell asleep. MJ didn't know about the secret hideout, she also didn't know why Harry was so isolating lately. She just chalked it up to his father's passing, which wasn't entirely wrong. After all, she had no way of knowing about the armor Harry had been designing for himself, or the glider. Or that he was tracking the movement of Osborn's latest shipments. Or that he was spending all of his time obsessively retracing his father's every last move, trying to track who he believed killed him. She had no way of knowing how Harry planned to track down his father's murderer. Peter, of course, knew all of this. Peter, of course, could do nothing about it, since Harry didn't know who Spider-Man was. 

He curved around a building as he headed home, almost laughing to himself. He can't help but hear his own "with great power, comes great responsibility" line come up at a time like this, but it's not incorrect. Peter could've never guessed he'd one day use that line about his crushes secret rebellion-revenge planning, but he also never expected to get spider-powers. Christ, Peter's life was crazy. Not that he was complaining too much, though. 

At least he got a boyfriend out of it.


End file.
